Janus Publishing Co., Ltd. / Empiricus Books

Caramba. The fast-dancing and high-stepping some people do to convince themselves that vanity-publishing a novel is good idea would put Fred Astaire to shame.

It's a shame that so many new writers are misinformed about Vanity Presses. I remember I almost fell for a vanity scam when I was a teenager, in the form of a poetry contest that I somehow "placed" in. Of course all my friends and family got a call, and I was stoked. Until I received a letter trying to make me pay money I didn't have for stupid mugs, and T-shirts, and plaques with my poem on it. Oh, and the actual book it would appear in.

I wish they would've taught a class on this in English or something.